New owners

[Fresh Breeze]

Hi, We have just purchased a Macgregor 26M, we haven't sailed for over 25 years, but I am sure it will all back to us once we get on the water, the design suit's us well cause we don't want to have a tender and were we won't to go with the boat is mostly in shallow waters on the east coast Queensland. We where thinking of joining the local yacht club so if we needed a little help to get sailing, but once we told them what we have the comment was "Oh you've got one of them" and with that reaction I am not so keen in joining, has anyone else got that reaction from other yacht'ies? We would like to here from other owners with hints and tips, we have been practicing on land with mast raising and lowering and finding out where all the ropes go, so far so good.
Cheers

[kmclemore]

Other folks may not like your wife's looks and may even make snide comments... but should that matter to you if you love her?

Screw 'em. Enjoy your boat. Let that be your best revenge.

Meanwhile, enjoy this community... we're all here to help you. Have a root through past threads, too... there's a ton of new-owner information included here.

[bartmac]

House or suburb snobs,car snobs,yacht snobs....they're all the same ...snobs BUT funny some of them don't even own a boat.We have lots of fun with our 26X and hey you can take it anywhere even on the road...we regard ours as our floating caravan...not too serious about sailing more serious about floating and lots of room inside

[Oskar 26M]

Bartmac is right, snobs are snobs and if "Keeping Up Appearances" is what matters to them, they should arrange to spend more time with TV's Mrs Bucket.

Our has attracted a lot of comments during all of our trips. Apart from the jokes about "are your preparing for an early wet season?" or "you might have a bit of trouble sailing that here" (when we camped out at a dry river bed), all of the comments were positive and many of them envious. The Mac was admired for its appearance, its size, its roominess, its flexibility and its powerful outboard.

Quite a few of those who spoke to us during our most recent trip were very experienced sailors who saw the Mac's versatility as a huge advantage over the keel boats they had owned. One, (a now-retired gentleman who had been sailing since he was a boy and had owned a wide variety of sail boats of all sizes) quizzed us for hours about the 's sailing performance. We were candid about both the good and the bad aspects. The next day he told us he had been on the Internet with a view to buying one and had already arranged to have two inspected on his behalf.

The Mac is just what it aims to be: a good-looking, comfortable, roomy and versatile power-trailer-sailer. It is very easy to tow, quick to rig and easy to sail. Although it is a bit "tender" and heels easily and can be tricky to handle at slow speeds at a windy dock, it has enough power to get out of trouble.

I hope you enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours

PS I didn't join a sailing club - the powerboat club I joined is much less pretentious and very much more welcoming.

[Fresh Breeze]

Thanks for all your positive comments, and the more I think about it you are right, they are just jealous that we will be able to get to more places on the water with our shallow draft than a keel boat. I know we are going to have a great adventure with our and looking forward to our first weekend on the water.
And yes we will be asking more questions on, how to do's, as we get more confident in handling our elegant
Thanks again fellow owners
Cheers

[kmclemore]

Thanks again fellow owners
Cheers

Hey, I'm feeling a little insulted here, as an owner!

[Fresh Breeze]

To kmclemore, Don't feel insulted we are all Mac owners No matter what the letter

[Boblee]

Wouldn't be too worried about sailing it will come back but When we bought our it was a bare boat straight from the factory and I knew nothing about sailing think it took about two hours to get the hang of basics after reading the manual.
As for the half smart real sailboat owners as you are powering in against the tide late afternoon or when storm clouds are coming give them a wave and if you are still at the ramp give them another wave as they arrive after dark or drenched .
Loved watching the real sailboat owners anchored off where we had beached and while they are tossing and pitching we are having a barbeque on the beach the following photo's show a real sailboat anchored outside the reef where he spent the night rocking the second is of a group of Macs and a Macman 28, the third is part of how we spent many hours besides exploring and fishing from bank interesting the resort on the other side of the island didn't want to even give us a glass of water until one of our group made a call to their boss .
The real sailboat owner did come ashore in his tender and nearly got caught in the tide, it could have been a long drag over that reef and beach.



Enjoy your new boat knowing you can go places both powerboats and other yachts can't go, they really are unique.

[The Mutt]

If everyone liked the same things we would all be driving Model T Fords ... coloured black, a good mate of mine crews on quite a few trailer sailboats for friendly races down on the South Coast of NSW, I don't race anymore ... get Max and I on the same boat ... everyone else on the boat gets nervous, Max recons we're just as fast on the water as the boats he crews on.

Fair Winds
Glenn

[bartmac]

The speed argument....."I go faster than you" is everywhere...cars,motorcycles,boats,etc etc and really is a sh~t measurement and quite often is done by blokes lacking in other areas nudge nudge wink wink measurement wise.My favorite is on my local very winedy roads and motorcycles....Gold Coast and Brisbane riders (read city) roaring past at great speed on the straight bits and spearing off at the first corner and then to hear them at the local watering hole....they're all Mick Doohans....freaking out other road users!And don't get me started on Highly Dangerous (read HD) lack of mufflers....I must be getting old and grumpy

[Mac26Mpaul]

Welcome Fresh Breeze. Its probably fair to say, you need to have a bit of a thick skin owning a "power sailer" because you will cop some pretty dang obtuse remarks, especially if you venture onto mainstream sailing, and even trailer sailing forums. I spent ages trying to analyse the Mac bash before I bought my boat. I noticed that on US forums, the comparisons were very often about how this or that keel boat is better than the Mac. On our Aussie forums, they love making out the Mac can't sail, and on English forums, they dont seem to talk too much about the sailing ( probably because there are so many bildge keelers over there that would sail much worse than a Mac) and seem to concentrate more on their belief that the boat is unsafe.

At the end of the day, keel boat to Mac comparisons are silly as they are two completely different kettle of fish designed for different things, As to sailing, we all know its no high performance sail boat, but it is absolutely fine for family sailing/cruising and is certainly fun to sail, and as to safetly, as someone once commented, "the Mac with ballast in, is basically a big lifeboat". It is solid glass, it has strong hatches, it does float when holed, really is self righting, and importantly there is no heavy keel to be broken or torn off in heavy seas leading to disaster (like on most other trailer sailers and keel boats). It wouldnt be comfortable, but you could probably ride out a fair bit of hull if you were ever unlucky enough to find yourself in survival conditions, while trailer sailers around you would be dissapearing below the surface left right and centre. When it comes to safety, I'll take the Mac over any other trailer sailer on the Aus market.

You will hear the same nonsense over and over about Macs, but I firmly believe that at the end of the day, its the big motor that annoys other sailers. The simple fact that when we want to, or need to, we can go fast. If Roger had marketed it with a 6hp, it would not cop anywhere near the BS it does from the would be "real sailers" A lot of it is certainly born of Jeolusy and small willy syndrome, for sure. I have now twice seen people link to a Mac 26 add on Trailersailerplace attempting to make a joke about the boat which gives me a kick, because I know that at the end of the day, they are looking at Mac adverts pure and simple because they are dreaming of owning a boat like mine In fact I have it on good authority that one of the most persistant Mac bashers on Trailer Sailer place, would actually really give anything to own a Mac!- Sorry your stuck with the Jedda TIm

We have thougt about downsizing a few times, more for financial reasons than anything else, but at the end of the day, we always seem to come back to the same old fact, if you want a trailerable cruising sailboat like we do, There are many reasons adding up to the fact that the Mac is the best Trailer sailer on the Oz market.

If a Mac basher were reading my speil here, they would make another common (and obtuse remark) from the Mac bashing arsenal of stupidity. They would say that I am just trying to justify my horrible boat. But in reality, if my boat were what they say, I would actually sell it rather than wasting time telling people why its such a great boat.

You can outsail the real sailers in a Mac by the way. On a run, you will find yourself passing keel boaters and other trailer sailers and its fun to look at their faces when you do Under power or at anchor, the two places that a cruising sailboat spends more than 90 percent of its time, you are in a far superior boat than the other trailer sailer sailors in Oz Let them make their comments, but if you bought the boat for the same reasons we all did here, you should be happy in knowing that your boat is much better than theres.

But the Mac aint really the boat for hanging at the yacht club with Its more the boat for people who like boating, comfy camping on water or road, and sailing, or just want to own thier own portable beachhouse

[Fresh Breeze]

Thanks Mac26Mpaul,
We did, a lot of research on a lot of boats, not just sailing one's, we look at large cruiser's, large keel sail boats, and even the new Imxus 28 ( a little to expensive and in my opinion a bit of a copy cat). But when we came across the Macgregor we new it was the one for us. See we've also got a slide on camper to do the land thing but now we have our Macgregor we will be selling it and our tinnie cause the Mac will do both jobs on and off the water.
The main reason for joining the yacht club was to have some where to park the car and trailer and not leave it at the ramp unsecured, nothing worse than coming back to the ramp after a few days of sailing and find you don't have a car or trailer any more!
What do other Mac owners do for secure parking especially when your gone for days at a time
Our maiden voyage is nearing and We can't wait the weather here is not the best at the moment, and when it happens we tell you all about it.

Cheers

[Boblee]

Fresh breeze
We travelled for five years around oz a few times with a camper trailer I made and a dinghy on top of the hilux, yes we sold the camper trailer but was thinking about buying another for little excursions but the young bloke has bought one
Now we travel with the towed behind a Dyna with the dinghy inside the back of the truck but prior just pulled the with the hilux with dinghy having the boat means you tend strongly and need to head for water on better roads and we both miss the unplanned trips we could do with the trailer but wouldn't trade the experiences on the for quids.
As for storage of vehicle and trailer we have left ours in caravan parks, marinas, yacht club compounds there is always somewhere but don't leave it on the boat ramps near Darwin which is the only place we have had a problem in 11 years of travelling but the police in Whyndam said it would be safe at the boat ramp there and it was for three weeks.
When travellin distance down rivers or along coast we leave the vehicle safe and then leave one person on the boat at destination and usually catch a bus or train back to vehicle by doing it this way it doesn't matter where you pull out rather than storing the vehicle where you plan to pull out.

[Mac26Mpaul]

For us, we still havnt got around to buying a car that can legally tow it (after 2.5 years of owning the boat ) but that is on the cards for next year. And so we have only launched at the ramp 200 metres away and I bring the trailer back and leave it in the front yard. Later I guess, it will be Marinas and clubs or just ramp carparks if nothing safer is available. I dont think thieves would be too interested in stealing a Mac trailer, they are more after tinnie and half cabin sized trailers I reckon. Still, coming back to find your car broken into would not be fun..

As to your maiden voyage. Just make sure you have plenty of time and take everything real slow. Do it from a ramp where you are not hurried and arnt likely to have too many onlookers ( The MAC gets plenty of attention from envious eyes at any ramp so find a quite one and not on a weekend ) If you can, do it from a ramp with a pontoon. Loading the boat in wind or current is a pain (Otherwise its very easy to just drive it on the trailer as per the factory video).
Wait for good weather, and if more than 10 knots is blowing, just make it a motor cruising trip. Best to get the feel for the boat with lighter wind I reckon.
Dont get disheartened when things stuff up because they certainly do, but the stuff up days get less and less with time. Dont shout at the Admiral if things go wrong ( I have learnt from experience that this does not make for happy family boating trips )
Looking forward to hearing about your maiden

[The Mutt]

Dont shout at the Admiral if things go wrong ( I have learnt from experience that this does not make for happy family boating trips )

Shouting at your partner, children, apprentice at work, mates, etc won't help them to learn, they need to be shown how to do task sometimes multiple times or they dig their heals in which makes for a very unpleasant time, we have seen many, many wives refuse to go with their husband on the boat or away in the caravan because of conflicts them while away, the main problem is that the husband expects the wife to know what to do after one quick instruction, eventually the boat or caravan is sold.

Side note:
We use hand held transmitters while launching, my wife monitors the blind spots while I reverse down the ramp, it is surprising how many Darwin Award candidates stop behind the trailer while you are reversing just to look at your boat or wash their feet at the base of the ramp !!!!!!!!!

Fair Winds
Glenn